Police misconduct stains evidence

WORCESTER 
Finding that “improper manipulative police tactics” were used by two Webster detectives while questioning a robbery suspect, a judge has precluded prosecutors from using the man’s incriminating statements as evidence against him at trial.

Trent Nicholopoulos, 23, of 38 Prospect St., Webster, is awaiting trial in Worcester Superior Court on an armed robbery charge stemming from the Jan. 13, 2012, robbery of a diamond engagement ring from a woman and her boyfriend at the McDonald’s restaurant on East Main Street in Webster.

Police said the victims, Cassidy Mann and Harvey Jackson, said they were robbed at gunpoint by two men after Ms. Mann offered the ring for sale on Craigslist and arrangements were made to meet with a potential buyer at the restaurant.

Salvatore Albanese, 23, of 42 Prospect St., Webster, who was identified by Mr. Jackson as the man who displayed a handgun and took the ring, was sentenced to 3 to 5 years in state prison July 3 after pleading guilty to armed robbery. Mr. Nicholopoulos was arrested after Mr. Albanese was questioned by police and identified Mr. Nicholopoulos as having been with him at the time of the holdup.

Shown a photo array that included a picture of Mr. Nicholopoulos, Mr. Jackson identified him as the man who was with Mr. Albanese at the time of the robbery. Ms. Mann was unable to identify Mr. Nicholopoulos.

When questioned by Detectives Gordon Wentworth and James Hoover 10 days after the robbery, Mr. Nicholopoulos initially denied any involvement in the robbery, but later admitted that he went to McDonald’s with Mr. Albanese to see some people about a ring. He told the officers he was not armed at the time and did not know Mr. Albanese was going to steal the ring.

Mr. Nicholopoulos’ lawyer, Thomas W. Brousseau, filed a motion to suppress his client’s statements to police, contending false and deceitful statements about the evidence made to Mr. Nicholopoulos by the two detectives rendered his statements involuntary.

“While one mistaken falsehood is not sufficient to suppress an otherwise unobjectionable interrogation, the deliberate falsehoods used by Wentworth and Hoover represent the type of improper manipulative police tactics that, in this case, deprived Nicholopoulos of his ability to make an ‘unconstrained, autonomous decision to confess,’ ” Judge Kenton-Walker said in her ruling, which cited case law.

The judge found that Mr. Nicholopoulos’ “will was overborne” by the officers and said the prosecution had not sustained its burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that his statement was voluntary.

Assistant District Attorney John H. Melander defended the officers’ actions in his written opposition to the motion, saying the detectives did not intentionally mislead or deceive Mr. Nicholopoulos. “Furthermore, numerous cases have held that misinformation by police does not necessarily render a confession involuntary, but is a factor to be considered,” the prosecutor wrote.

According to the judge’s ruling, Detective Hoover made a “misleading” statement to Mr. Nicholopoulos during the interrogation that he had been identified by both victims.

Mr. Melander said Mr. Nicholopoulos had been identified “as one of the two robbers” by Mr. Albanese and Mr. Jackson. While it appeared that Detective Hoover may have accidentally told Mr. Nicholopoulos he had been identified by the two victims, that should not be construed as an attempt on his part to intentionally mislead the suspect, the prosecutor wrote.

Judge Kenton-Walker further found that Detective Wentworth falsely told Mr. Nicholopoulos he and Mr. Albanese had been captured on surveillance video from McDonald’s and that independent witnesses had seen the two men running through their yards that night.

In reality, police were unable to identify two individuals depicted on the surveillance video because of its poor quality.

In a footnote to her ruling, Judge Kenton-Walker said Detective Wentworth admitted during a Nov. 26 hearing on the motion to suppress that what he told Mr. Nicholopoulos about what was revealed on the video was not true.

“He also claimed to not recall telling Nicholopoulos about the two independent witnesses, but admitted that if he did say that, it was not true. Wentworth denied that he had misled Nicholopoulos, and described his false statements as interrogation techniques,” the judge wrote.

Mr. Nicholopoulos is being held on $2,000 cash bail. His trial is scheduled for June 24.